Though the Pokemon world was created with a younger audience in mind and as the key demographic, it is important to note that there are several elements of the series that seem as though they were intended for more mature fans.
The Pokemon universe does not believe in coddling children. Ten-year-olds are sent to fend for themselves while training their creatures, after all! In the spirit of exploring the darker themes that permeate the Pokemon world, here are ten Pokemon backstories that are much darker than we expected them to be.
Updated on March 12th, 2022 by Quinton O'Connor: We left out some obvious winners, and by winners we mean losers. Check out a handful of tragic Pokemon whom we tragically forgot existed.
10 Cubone
Cubone's hat is its dead mother's head. That's the long and short of it. It wears the skull of its deceased parent. Is the skull a permanent fixture? Or does Cubone take it off every evening and between showers?
Game Freak won't tell us. The Pokemon Company International won't tell us. Nintendo certainly won't tell us. All we know is Cubone gets lonely, so it presumably gets its paws dirty with a rather morbid surgical procedure. How is it that this happens with every instance of Cubone we've ever encountered? Do Cubone mothers have a fixed life expectancy, and when Cubone reaches roughly early adolescence, they ritually kick the curb? The more we wonder, the worse it gets.
9 Absol
In a less macabre twist, we have Absol. A sweet little creature who has never wanted anything more than to help those around them, even if the favor was not returned. Absol is a Pokemon who has the uncanny ability to sense disasters before they occur. Hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, that stuff.
When it sensed that the danger was coming, little Absol would run to the nearest humans and warn them so that they would have plenty of time to get out of the way. However, some people began to associate its appearance with the disasters themselves, and they believed that the Pokemon caused them. After this belief became the norm, its appearances were no longer welcomed. People sort of suck sometimes.
8 Rattata
The sad thing about Rattata is that there's only one known Rattata who is in the "top percentage of all Rattata," and it's Joey's. Joey is a friendly kid, some would say too friendly, who the player meets early on in the Johto games. He fights you with a Rattata, and after he inevitably loses miserably, he asks for your phone number, thereafter calling you constantly to tell you that his Rattata "is not like other Rattata," asking if "you know what I'm saying," and then indeed confirming that his Rattata is in the top percentage of them all.
Here's the thing: have you ever considered how all the other Rattata feel about this? Joey loves his Rattata, and his Rattata is very special. But literally, no one else ever has looked at a Rattata with total love in their eyes and said, "you and me, pal, together or not at all." That's not a thing that happens. One would suspect that the Rattata know it, and they loath themselves and the cruel world around them. No wonder they throw their limp level two bodies at level 100 Lugia when the Pokemon League Champion journeys home for the weekend.
7 Garbodor
This Pokemon is straight-up trash. And it knows. For your viewing pleasure, we've combined an image so that you can see what it looks like in its pre-evolved form as well. Trubbish knows its fate. You can tell because it looks like it craves the grave. But no, you went and did it, didn't you? You let it evolve instead of fade away. And now Garbodor is covered in trash.
Garbodor has two long arms' worth of trash, held together by trashy piping. Its abdomen is total garbage. It's given up on any semblance of hope in life, preferring to live in the trashiest possible areas so that it can spend all day, every day, and well into the wee dark mornings, feasting on course after course... of trash.
6 Mewtwo
One thing that Hollywood has taught us (and will continue to teach us so long as we retain an interest in the science fiction and horror genres) is the fact that splicing genes (or doing any scientific experiments that involve directly interfering with a creature's genetic makeup) is always a bad idea.
Mewtwo is evidence of this fact. This formidable being is the result of awful gene-splicing experiments performed on Mew. Mewtwo was not a fan of its own creation and destroyed the lab in which it was created. As grim a being as Mewtwo may be, it's the disgust it upholds for the pain inflicted upon Mew that makes the whole thing rather sympathetic.
5 Mimikyu
We've all longed for acceptance at some point or another. Count Mimikyu among the masses, then. But when your true appearance is said to cause people terrible illness and even death, acceptance seems forever out of reach.
That is unless you decide to don your very own homemade Pikachu costume! Everybody loves Pikachu, so everyone will love you, too, right Mimikyu? Alas, glorious Arceus in the skies above did not endow you with excellent cosplay skills, and the result of your hard work is... this. And this? This scares people even more so.
Troubling enough, it also makes them want to remove your costume. Curiosity kills the Pokemon professor, evidently. And to think, you just wanted a friend.
4 Yamask
That egg-shaped mask that the Yamask carries around is not simply decorative. It turns out that that mask is actually the face of the human that it once was. That bears repeating: The egg-like mask is literally a human face that has been removed from its body.
If one were so bold as to wear the mask, Yamask would be able to possess you so long as you keep the mask on. You can file this under sinister, or you can be reasonable and realize that the tragic Yamask merely wants its human head back. Is that too much to ask?
3 Marowak
We're back — with Marowak. And how could we not be? Recall the tragedy of Cubone. Now, are Cubone mums traditionally Marowaks? If so, they know when it's their time to go because Cubone isn't crying. "Oh geez, my beloved son isn't heartbreakingly lonely yet, because I still draw breath. Well, time to go find the nearest incinerator."
Once Cubone has evolved into Marowak, the skull of its mother has fused so fully with its cranium that it can absolutely never be removed. So, that's weird. But anyway, it's fierce and bitter over its fate. Justifiably. And it goes after Mandibuzz with all its anger because Mandibuzz has a thing for eating Cubones.
Like, what the heck is going on with literally any of this?
2 Froslass
Sometimes ghosts exist to help lost people find their way. And sometimes the ghosts' sole purpose is to make more ghosts. Froslass is essentially the spirit of a woman who lost her life on a mountain and spends the rest of her existence luring other people to the same fate. This Pokemon seems to be inspired by the Yuki-onna, a Japanese ice spirit.
It is important to note that she prefers ending the lives of men, as most lonely mythological female spirits do. She can also wander through civilian towns during snowy weather and will even be so bold as to show up on peoples' doorsteps at times.
"Hi, can I come in? Is Rick home? He isn't? He's at the park? Alone? Why thank you very much for that keen information, Pam."
1 Gorebyss
This last one's less for Gorebyss itself and more for all the Pokemon that dare to stand in its way.
Though its pink color and feminine eyelashes invoke a playful and delicate vibe, do not be fooled by Gorebyss' appearance. It's an unfriendly creature that is, essentially, a giant sea mosquito.
What does this mean? It means that it uses its long, pointed snout to drain its victims of all bodily fluids. Like a fun straw. "The leftover meat sinks to the seafloor, where it becomes food for other Pokemon," the Pokédex reports. That's a rough way to go, Magikarp and friends.